Fernando Alonso was an eye-catching P7 for McLaren, who had expected to struggle on the relative 'power circuit', with Valtteri Bottas only eighth for Williams.

Haas will fancy their chances of a first Q3 appearance after Romain Grosjean wound up an encouraging P9, while Jenson Button rounded off McLaren's impressive afternoon in tenth.

Scuderia Ferrari

Felipe Massa, who hit sensor issues in the latter part of the session, was 11th, with Force India pair Nico Hulkenberg, returning to action after making way for Alfonso Celis this morning, and Sergio Perez nudged down to 12th and 13th respectively by their rivals' improvements.